


The Dandelion King

by actuallyfeanor



Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fluff, Found Family, Gen, One Shot, Short One Shot, So sweet it'll give you hyperglycaemia, elrond is too short to be king, half-elves get the flu, the happiest Silmarillion fic you'll read this month, the struggles of parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2019-08-12
Packaged: 2020-08-20 03:09:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20220808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/actuallyfeanor/pseuds/actuallyfeanor
Summary: Maedhros spends some time with his adopted sons and finally gets to be happy for a little while.





	The Dandelion King

**Author's Note:**

> A long expected (and long overdue) gift for tumblr user i-am-the-ineffable-lady. Thanks for the patience.

"I thigk I hab a cold," said Elros. Maedhros sighed. The trouble with raising two half-elven children was that you never knew what to expect. Sometimes it was easy to forget that they weren't elves, like when Elros pounced at him with cat-like reflexes or Elrond fluently switched between Quenya and his native Sindarin mid-conversation. And then something like this cold would pop up to remind him that the twins were as much Edain as Eldar.

"Well, in that case it's better if you stay here until it passes." He had been planning on taking the twins riding today, but Elros seemed to be in no state to go. Wearing only a nightshirt, and sniffling, he was a sorry sight. The trouble with colds, as the Edain called them, was that there was nothing any healer could do to cure them. You just had to wait it out and make sure you had enough rags on hand to wipe away the large amounts of snot they seemed to generate. Maedhros wondered how the Edain could live like that; so fragile, so prone to sickness. Yet, for all their bodily fragility, they were remarkably strong in spirit. He had seen old women lose their husbands and sons in battle, their daughters in childbirth, their friends to sickness and famine, and still keep on toiling to carve out a meagre life for themselves and what family they had left. He had seen young men, crippled by war, and children, born blind or lame, who still kept on living, laughing, surviving. The bleaker the world around them grew, the brighter they shone.

"But I dod't wadt to stay here." Elros tried his best to stand up straight and look less miserable, but the effect was somewhat ruined by an explosive sneeze.

"Listen, Elros, you can come along some other time, but right now what you need is rest and maybe some hot soup."

Elros looked like he was about to protest again, but one stern look from Maedhros made him reconsider.

Elrond and Maglor were waiting in the courtyard, Elrond looking as healthy as usual. That at least was a relief. Maedhros explained the situation to them, making sure to impress upon Maglor the need to have someone make hot soup, and then he and Elrond saddled up and rode eastward in the morning sunlight.

It was close to noon when they reached the top of a grassy hill, covered in wildflowers, where they dismounted and left the horses to graze. Elrond slumped down on the grass, leant back and closed his eyes against the sun, and Maedhros seated himself next to him in a slightly more dignified manner. A couple of butterflies fluttered past, heading for a clump of fireweed. Nothing could be heard save the chirping of grasshoppers and the gentle snuffling of the horses.  
Absentmindedly, Maedhros began to weave a flower crown from the dandelions that grew next to where he sat, looping each flower around the stems of the others to create a sturdy bundle. It was something he had done hundreds of times back in Valinor, making crowns for his younger brothers, who would then pretend to be great kings, like Finwë and Ingwë. However, working with only one hand complicated matters significantly. The stump of his right hand could be used to support the flower bundle, but not much more. He couldn't tighten the loops enough for the crown to stay together, and it soon fell apart in his lap. He sighed in frustration and lay down on the ground, pretending that up was down and down was up, so that he was looking down into a deep blue pool of sky.

Maedhros was dimly aware of Elrond moving next to him, but he was completely unprepared for the thing that suddenly dropped down on his face. He sat up to examine it.

"Look, I made you a crown!" Elrond was beaming at him. The thing was indeed a flower crown, deftly woven from dandelions and some small, white flowers that he couldn't put a name to. Maedhros put it on and noticed that it was ever so slightly too large for him, but Elrond looked so happy that he decided not to mention it.

"Why, thank you!" He tossed his head so that his hair cascaded down his back. "Do I look … enchanting?" he asked, with exaggerated conceit.

Elrond laughed. "You look like a real king. Can I be a king too?"

Maedhros grinned and dangled the crown just out of Elrond's reach. "Aren't you a little too short for that?"

After that it turned into a game of tag, until Elrond got tired and they decided to head home.

As they rode back through the woods, Maedhros thought of Elwing, flying away with his Silmaril and leaving her children behind for him and Maglor to raise. In the soft summer breeze, with a crown of dandelions sliding down to obscure his vision and Elrond's laughter ringing in his ears, Maedhros wondered if he hadn't gotten the better end of that bargain after all.


End file.
